


Crown of Daggers

by amaranth (xiseoks)



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Assassins & Hitmen, Drabble, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:42:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25941556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xiseoks/pseuds/amaranth
Summary: Baekhyun reunites with an old friend when he is ordered to kill the new king.
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Kim Jongdae | Chen
Comments: 15
Kudos: 83
Collections: Challenge #6 — Rise of Kingdoms





	Crown of Daggers

**Author's Note:**

> This was a lot of fun to write! Thank you in advance for reading!  
> And thank you dear mods for all your hard work!

The northerners were transporting their most valuable treasure tonight.

Word traveled and spies eavesdropped, secrets and information traded for gold and food, until eventually, it fell upon Baekhyun’s own ears that the deceased King’s son would board a discreet ship and cross the ocean to claim his rightful title.

It was Baekhyun’s job to make sure he wouldn’t be able to.

He received the location from an old gambler, dropping a few coins into his palm in payment before the man scurried off into the dark alley. No doubt his coins would wound up in some richer stranger’s pockets by the end of the night, maybe even before Baekhyun managed to separate the prince’s head from his body.

From that point on, it was simple. The lack of guard the monarchy had for their prince was almost laughable, because now here Baekhyun was, hiding in the space between the ceiling and the frame of the door of the prince’s quarters on the ship. His dagger was in place. He held himself deathly still, ears sharpened for the sound of the prince. The boat rocked uneasily beneath him.

Baekhyun held his breath once the door opened. In walked the prince, bidding goodnight to his personal guards and shutting the door, leaving just the two of them. Baekhyun waited for the guards’ steps to fade, and found his opportunity in the silence that followed.

He leapt, and tackled the prince to the floorboards. The prince grunted in alarm and fought back, but Baekhyun was stronger. He held him down easily with the strength of his thighs, and straddled him at his waist, finally taking control of the situation and raising his dagger to end it all and finish the job. 

There was just one thing stopping him.

“Well,” the prince said underneath him, familiarity flashing in his eyes, “looks like you’ve finally bested me.”

Baekhyun’s heart leapt in his throat as he met the prince’s amused stare. He dropped his dagger, the steel clattering against the wooden floorboards.

“Y—you’re not…”

“Granted, the odds are wildly against me,” the prince flashed a broken grin at him, strained underneath Baekhyun’s weight. 

Baekhyun wrenched himself away from the prince, shuffling backwards until his back hit the wall. He watched with wide eyes as the prince—Jongdae—sat up, rubbing at the back of his head.

“Y-you were a prince that whole time?” 

“And you were an assassin,” Jongdae said, picking up Baekhyun’s fallen dagger— _damn it_ —and examining it. “Not very becoming of you, Baekhyunnie.”

The old nickname brought back childhood memories Baekhyun had buried. The two of them, sparring on the open fields of their schoolyard. Jongdae always won, shoving the brunt of his sword against Baekhyun’s chest until they tumbled into the grass with grins on their faces. Afterwards, Jongdae would offer a hand to Baekhyun, and lift him up for another round. It made sense now—Jongdae’s excelling swordsmanship was because he was from royalty.

“I wasn’t one back then,” Baekhyun defended.

“Doesn’t change the fact that you’re here to kill me,” Jongdae said, gesturing to Baekhyun’s dagger in his hand.

Just then, the sound of guards scuttering down the ship’s staircases could be heard from just beyond the prince’s quarters. Baekhyun watched Jongdae carefully, frozen in place. He waited for Jongdae to, inevitably, call upon his guard.

“If you leave now and don’t return, I won’t say a word,” Jongdae promised instead, to Baekhyun’s surprise. Baekhyun thought on his feet, panic swelling in his chest. He had a few minutes to complete his job and kill the prince, and he could very well do so in that time.

...Yet, seeing Jongdae again—it had his heart tremble in ways Baekhyun never thought it could do again.

“You have to leave with me.”

Jongdae gaped. “Excuse me?”

“I’m not the only one sent after you,” Baekhyun said. “More will come. They won’t stop until you’re dead.”

“Of course,” Jongdae bitterly laughed. “What better way to kill me than by luring me to some place quiet, away from my personal guard?”

“If I wanted to kill you, I could have easily done it by now,” Baekhyun said. To prove it, he tackled Jongdae from behind, wrapping an arm around his neck and pinning the sleeve of his shirt to the surface of a table with his reclaimed dagger.

“You have truly lost your touch,” Baekhyun said with a breathless laugh against the shell of Jongdae’s ear. The prince shivered in his hold.

“How many more are coming?” Jongdae asked.

“Six, at the least,” Baekhyun said. “And that’s just tonight. The moment you land, there’ll be deep in the hundreds coming after you once word lets out that the prince is still alive.”

Despite everything, Jongdae chuckled darkly. “Your client must really want me dead.”

“You have no idea.”

“I can handle them.”

“You’ll be dead before dawn.”

Jongdae wrenched himself free from Baekhyun’s loosening grasp. He turned to examine Baekhyun, brows furrowed in both frustration and confusion.

“Why do you care?” he spat. “Go on. Finish the job. Better you than anyone else.”

“Change of heart,” Baekhyun said. “You’d better decide quickly, your highness.” 

At the sound of the guards approaching, Jongdae stared at Baekhyun’s offered hand, and back at the doorway. Conflict stormed in his eyes, before he groaned in defeat. Considering Baekhyun had snuck in without trouble, his guards would never be enough to protect him.

But Baekhyun knew too, that there was more to it. Jongdae had always had a thirst for adventure. There was a spark of excitement in his eyes now that told Baekhyun he still craved it, even if it was clouded by years and years of the crown’s burden on his shoulders. 

“Fine,” Jongdae said. Baekhyun smiled in victory.

Jongdae, with heedful but curious eyes, took Baekhyun’s hand. Swiftly, before the guards could find them together, they leapt out the open window and into the dark, starry night full of peril and infinite chances.


End file.
